STERLING -- Northeastern Junior College was buzzing with budding science researchers on Thursday. Approximately 66 students were there, from surrounding middle and high schools, to present their work at the 58th annual Northeast Regional Science Fair.This year there were seven schools participating, down from nine last year. In 2006, when Penny Propst first started as director, there were four schools and roughly 70 projects.

"I don't think there's any other thing like science research to help improve English, writing, presenting, public speaking," Propst said, also noting it helps with critical thinking. "Keep up your interest in science research; it will never ever fail you."

This year's Best of Fair Overall Winner in the senior division was Emma Scholz, a 10th grader at Sterling High School. For her project she studied the effects of gliadin protein levels in hybrid wheat on the segment regeneration in lumbriculus (blackworms).She said she came up with the idea because a lot of people are starting to get Celiac disease and develop gluten allergies, which Scholz herself has. Scholz wanted to know if going gluten free really makes people healthier and if there's a link between the amount of gliadin in different hybrid wheat and the way it affects human and animal health.

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This was the second time she has participated in the Science Fair. She said she enjoys doing science research because it allows her to explore areas that are unexplored.

"I love being able to learn new things. You can learn however much you want to," Scholz said. "I love being able to find things that no one else has found before."

Alex Fernandez, also a sophomore at SHS, took sixth place in the senior division for his project on the effect of silencing the IL27 gene with the use of RNAi on Caenorhabditis elegans.

He said he stumbled upon the idea for his project on the Internet.

"It was something I didn't know a lot about," Fernandez said. "I thought it would be cool to know how the body works."

Recently the IL27 gene has been linked to inflammation in autoimmune responses. Eliminating the gene may inhibit the autoimmune responses in conditions such as allergies and multiple sclerosis.

This was Fernandez's first time at the Science Fair. He wanted to take part in it because he wants to go into the medical field and he thought this is something that could help him with that.

Bodie Hume and Tevor Smith, seventh graders at Sterling Middle School, took third place in the behavior category for the junior division. Their project was on what effect listening to music has on test scores.

Hume said they chose that topic because they have a big interest in music. This was Hume's second year participating in the Science Fair and Smith's first year. Both said they wanted to do it because they like science.

It was also Alexa Tena's first Science Fair. The seventh grader from SMS took second place in the behavior category for her project on a cell phone conversation's affect on reaction time. After conducting a ruler drop test with 20 students, she found cell phone conversations do slow down reaction time.

She too said she wanted to participate because she likes science.

A number of awards and scholarships were handed out during an awards ceremony at the end of the day.

Scholz and VanDuren were also finalists for the International Science and Engineering Fair, May 12-17, in Phoenix. The Walsh Foundation also awarded travel expenses to the two students to pay expenses for the ISEF.

Plus, Scholz received the Outstanding Sustainability Award from the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering & Environment Project, and VanDuren received the Recognition Award. Both qualified to participate in the I-SWEEP Fair, May 9-13, in Houston.Other senior division finalists for the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair, April 11-13, at Colorado State University, included Fernandez; Ivan Estupinan (Sterling), seventh place; Valeria Arambula (Wray), eighth place; and Callie Deterding (Wray), ninth place. Alternate is Allysa Valko (Wray).

Shaw, Beckman, Meisner, Anderson and Beckner will be nominated for the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars) competition and if selected as a finalist they will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. to showcase their projects.

Visitors look over projects at the Northeast Regional Science Fair during a public viewing time. There were 66 projects from seven schools entered into this year's event. (Callie Jones/Journal-Advocate)

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